Do you want fries with your apprenticeship?

McDONALD'S will become the biggest provider of apprenticeships under a national expansion of on-the-job training.

The fast food giant says it will teach up to 10,000 people hospitality skills, teamwork, better English and maths — and, of course, how to cook burgers.

Although Labour MPs routinely derided the old youth training scheme of the Eighties as meaningless "burger flipping" to massage down the unemployment figures, ministers are welcoming the McJobs courses as offering real skills to school leavers.

The diplomas will be accredited by city and guilds and inspected by Ofsted. The Prime Minister announced 35,000 extra apprenticeships as a flagship measure at the start of his three-day regional tour of slump-hit cities.

But questions are being asked over how many of the places are genuinely new. Gordon Brown met Rolls-Royce bosses in Derby for a stage-managed announcement of 50 extra apprenticeships.

However, it emerged that the car engine firm was actually keeping the same number as last year.

It had been planning a cut from 220 a year to 170 and the "extra" 50 was a matter of maintaining places that would have been lost.

Employment minister Tony McNulty was caught off guard on BBC Newsnight last night when he was unable to say if the 35,000 overall increase was new or a re-announcement of previous planned increases in apprenticeships. When asked if he was certain of his facts, he said: "no, I'm not, to be perfectly honest."

McDonald's is undertaking trials of its scheme at 80 restaurants and plans to expand it to all 1,200 outlets in the UK. Some 6,000 places will be available this year, rising to 10,000 places.